so long, farewell......

well, blogger is giving me a hard time.  like, she won't let me post any pics type of hard time.  which is a problem for me in a lot of ways.  so i'm leaving blogger to put roots down at wordpress.

find me here, forever more:

www.burtonsnorth.com
www.burtonsnorth.com
www.burtonsnorth.com

i even made it easier for you to remember.  peace out blogspot.

fallish

first day of preschool

new schedule is killing ida

ida learns to write her name

50's day at school

taking it all off

edworthy to price's island park, last fall ride

yul meet yul

we are a month in.  a month into school, a month into selling a house, a month into routine-ville.  it is all good.

fall has come and gone.  the leaves turned quick and were super pretty for a couple of weeks then all fell off with the wind.  ida thought this was exciting thinking it was snowing leaves.  this is definitely the year of making realizations and fun discoveries for her it seems.  such a great age.

we went for it and shaved eli bald a couple of weeks ago.  he looks great.  he looks handsome.  he is a dead ringer for yul brynner.  he has had nothing but good feedback at school and church.  the weird thing about it is, i am almost can't remember him with hair now.  as i was prepping this blog tonight, i was laying in bed with him and we were looking through pictures.  we skipped by one with him and hair.  he sighed and said he felt sad and that he missed his hair.  i assured him he looked great with and without his hair and it would probably grow back.  it's just a little blip in hair time.

the temple is done and has had tours/open house activities going on the last couple of weeks.  mom and dad have been swallowed up in daily service there putting in long, long hours.  they have had wonderful experiences.  cj and i are to usher there on the 10th and the 20th.  its coming up and will be a rewarding experience i'm sure.

for sale...

yes.  the house is for sale.

you know someone who wants to buy this awesome place?


http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=12382457&PidKey=1616461787

winning

one of the biggest of worries about eli losing his hair was how things would go down at school.  would the kids notice?  would the kids tease him?  would he be perceived as something he is not with such a extreme hair cut?  this morning eli told me that during music yesterday the teacher made the comment that he was going to have a hard time remembering everybody's name.  at that point a boy in his class said, "you are going to always remember eli's name, he has a awesome haircut!".  eli was stoked.  "they don't even know i have alopecia mom!"  this was a good thing for eli.  a very good thing.

he brought home a shield that he had been working on during language arts.  i loved his motto, "always try again".  what a great motto.  keep it up E!

cool as a cucumber

ida met her preschool teachers today.  i registered her at the same preschool i sent eli to 7 years ago.  7 years!  that seems like a whole life time ago.  i remember taking eli there, worrying about leaving him, feeling so alone when i left and was... alone for a couple of hours.  his old teachers who own the school were there and it was good to catch up after all these years.  ida was over the moon.  i didn't see her for an hour as i wrote out cheques and chatted with the staff.  she is ready to roll on the old preschool routine/train.

tonight as i was putting her to sleep she rolled over and said, "mom can you buy me a mermaid tail?". usually she wants me to buy her a "keykock, lunacorn, puppy, tiger and cat".  but tonight it was a mermaid tail.  "you know, a mermaid tail, that i can put over my feet."  humph, do they make those?

i am happy to relay, eli has been reporting higher ratings on how his days are going at school.  day 1:  5 out of 10.  day 2:  7 out of 10.  today:  9 out of 10!  he told me saturday would be an 11 out of 10.  what a sly guy....

so long summer, hello school!

marble canyon

the laviochinni's came to town!

sophie and ida

lots of "minute to win" it games

finished "the hobbit", enjoyed "the hobbit"

the haircut

new do

calgary temple, almost complete

first day of grade 5

we survived the summer.  yes, the summer of 2012.  another summer of moving in and out of homes...

the last few weeks of summer we were able to spend some time with the auvignes {AKA the laviochinni's here at our house}.  it was the biggest treat for the kids to play and play and play with new, fun friends.  truly there was a friend for everyone.  they had a great time and so did we.

over the summer eli read "the hobbit" and worked on his hand writing and math just to keep things fresh in his mind.  we noticed in march/april that he was starting to lose his hair again.  last year around the same time he had begun to lose hair and he was diagnosed with alopecia areata.  luckily the hair he lost last year began to grow back about 4 months later. this time round, i noticed that the eyelashes on his right eye had fallen out and then we started to see spots and areas on his head become sparse.  over the last few months he has became balder and balder.  it had got to the point that the remaining long hair covering spots weren't really doing their job anymore and it was more noticeable than helpful.  we decided to bite the bullet a couple weeks ago and cut most of his hair off and shave it clean.  we kept a bit up top because it still looked alright and intact.  however everyday it continues to thin and leave him.  it's kind of sad.  why does his hair loss bum us out?  it is very difficult and uncomfortable to watch someone lose their hair so rapidly that from day to day things deteriorate.  what can you do though.  alopecia is an autoimmune disorder.  there is nothing we can do.  we can just play the cards we are dealt.  eli seems to not be bothered by it.  it is a huge change for him, he has always had a great head of hair.  we have been buying hats and beanies and whatever else he wants to wear on his head.  the top of his hair will probably go.  we will just keep trimming and trying to work it out as long as we can for him.  but, don't be surprised if you see him bald.

i guess that's how it goes.

eli began school today at a new school.  grade 5.  it was very hard to leave him this morning.  he has a great school and very nice teacher.  he was nervous.  i left him sitting in his desk ready to go.  i walked out of the class and stood and watched him for a while through the windows outside of his classroom in a common area.  he nervously fidgeted, looked a bit scared.  he watched other boys who obviously knew each other merrily greet and rough house.  i was dying inside for him so i had to leave and just trust he would be fine and would make some friends.  when i picked him up today he gave me a rating of 5 out of 10 for how his day went.  he couldn't identify anything negative that happened so i'll chalk his rating up to a boring instructional/organizational day.  i'm sure tomorrow will be rated better.  here's to a new school year!    

loopin' ze laken

pre-race

start line

post race

ida's post race treat

10 km.

that's right, 10 km.  we started the weekend off right with the annual Loop the Lake race in invermere.  this year eli, cole and spencer did the race with chuck and i.  it was a run/walk with the 3 boys in tow.  spencer and chuck forged ahead of eli, cole and i.  we had fun.  lots of verbal prodding to keep pep in the boy's step.  the guys kept up the pace and did better than i ever thought they would.  they finished strong and ran through the finish line feeling good.  chuck/spencer rolled in at 1:10 and eli/cole/jess finished up at 1:35.  WAY TO GO!  super duper proud of you eli.  a big run and a big accomplishment.  we spent the rest of the day at the lake swimming and sunning and enjoying life.

you've got to enjoy life.  just enjoy it.  

the weather has been amazing.  just perfect.  warm and british columbia-ish.

while i was writing this post, eli stated his tooth was loose.  his last baby tooth.  he sat down beside me, leaned over to CJ and with minimal force the tooth fell out.  no blood, no nothing.  done.  baby tooth phase over and out.  10-4 good buddy.

speedy summer

moved in!

watching the rain

Calgary Stampede 100 years!

our perfect lake experience

happy anniversary

family dance

happy birthday ivy!

cousins!

ty was so sad.  totally couldn't handle it.

bye dee.  we love and miss you.

heyyyyy!  youuuuu?!!!!!!

what a great summer.  busy.  we moved into our new house.  we hit the stampede where we rode the kiddie rides and ate fair food.  stacey and aaron finished dental school and came home for a few weeks before heading to TEXAS = lots of hang out time.  we spent time at the cabin and celebrated ivy's second birthday and chuck and sandra's anniversary.  we jumped into a remote lake and the guys cliff dove into a mining pit where CJ broke some ribs or ripped some muscle or something because since then, every time he sneezes or has to lift something, he almost dies.

life is relatively calm right now.  in a few weeks from now eli will begin grade 5 at a new school, ida will begin preschool twice a week and life will get into a routine again.  it's all good.

if i were to pinpoint the highlight of the summer {thus far.....}, i would have to say it was our time at the cabin.  the weather was amazing.  we ended up driving to a remote natural hot springs where we sat around with russian polygamist gypsies.  they dug clay up from the bottom of the hot pools and smeared their faces and bodies with it..... nena joined in....which is one of the great qualities nena possesses - she makes friends easily and always joins in on the fun.  the hot pools were about 45 minutes away from the cabin driven on a main highway, then onto a logging road which took us deep into the mountains.  after about 20 minutes we stopped at a small parking area and after walking down a rustic path, BOOM there were the hot pools.... with people in them?  i thought it was SO CRAZY that others were out in the middle of nowhere with us.  huh?????  when we had hot tubbed enough, we kept driving and encountered a lake.  a remote, mountain lake.  it was fantastic.  i felt really small.  i felt that way once before on my first trip to manhattan as an adult.  but it was different.  i wasn't being towered over by buildings and waves of people.  i was in the open, surrounded by mountains and trees and a big blue sky and i felt like we were literally the only people on earth.  it was all quite overwhelming.  our 3 car caravan stopped along the narrow road that followed the edge of the lake.  CJ got out and immediately said he was jumping in.  i thought he was crazy... i should quit doing that because it was the start of a very memorable moment in time.  i believe i will always remember us jumping into that brisk, perfect, hidden lake in the middle of nowhere.  it was magical and exhilarating and just flawless.  we talked about coming back the next day, but we all agreed it just wouldn't be the same.  we had been served a little golden moment and we needed to take it and not try to reproduce it.

life is kind of like that, eh?  i love those moments or periods in my life that shouldn't be messed with.  i can never go back to my mission areas or old college days.  the first few years of the kids life, living in south pasadena....  they are times i hold really dear.

i'm glad i could add our lake experience to the list and i'm so thankful i did it with family.  thanks guys.  i love you all.